So chances are if you're an Xbox 360 gamer, you like Halo. The series that made the FPS popular again and brought us the rebounding health meter and limited weapon management. The globally loved franchise has seen many iterations by now, and each one has generally been said to have improved upon the last, and that's a sentiment I agree with. Especially if you look at the sales numbers which just keep climbing and climbing, they show no signs of slowing either.. So it’s fair to say that most Xbox gamers are Halo fans because the Statistics and the Fan Base both show it. But let me ask you a simple question.

Do you like it this much?

I am proud to announce that XBLG will be exclusively covering the upcoming Halo fan project currently entitled Project Utah. This fan project isn't simply a group of kids acting out their favourite scenes, oh no. This is a high quality production featuring the incredible talents of Devin Graham, or as he is more commonly known "Devin Super Tramp" the film director. And the Musical styling’s of the remarkably skilled Lindsey Stirling. That's not to mention the stunning work and efforts of "The 405th Infantry Division" and their amazing Costume and Prop designs that ranges from the Magnum Pistol and SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle all the way to the shark toothed Flamethrower and M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher. The project contains a Mini Web series which will bring all the elements together, a First Person Shooter styled video similar to the FPS scene in the DOOM Movie adaptation and a Music video which will be performed by Lindsey Stirling. The Production will be split into three separate parts, which are to be published online on the channels and pages of all those involved so make sure you give them the support they need and we might just see even more of it in the future.

The Spartans flew out to meet up and begin their adventure together alongside the Directors and Leaders of the project. So after viewing and checking each other’s MJLNIR armor plating and all the weapons from The 405th they began their hike to the remote location where the recording is currently taking place. After a long climb, and a brief lunch, production began and from that point onwards the project has only gotten more and more impressive. Dynamic camera angles, fantastic cinematography as a whole and a superb location are really bringing it all to life in the best way possible.

The Directors of the project are Boston McConnaughey and Devin Graham and from what we've seen so far, this looks to be on par, if not better than the Halo 3 mini film, Landfall. With a dedicated staff of Spartans to take the hits, a crew of cinematographers to bring it to life and some of the best prop work I've seen to date, this is going to be an incredible interpretation of the Halo universe, brought to life through the dedication and love of the franchise. And really, what better way is there to capture the spirit of one of the industry’s most iconic productions on record. So if you think you have what it takes to keep up with the fighting warriors of the UNSC then keep your eyes locked on this site for more updates and exclusive coverage of Project Utah.

I had the chance to talk to Director Devin Graham, who is greatly invested in the development and production of the series. He has even funded a large part of the production himself, showing an incredible amount of commitment not often seen amongst others. This is what he had to tell us about his personal investment in the project.

“I’m working on 2 live action Halo videos for my YouTube channel, I flew in 9 Halo costume makers from around the US for the project, with a weapons specialist who makes Halo gun replicas, so everything looked straight out of the videogame. The first video is a "Halo First Person Shooter" video. It will bevery similar to Freddiew's FPS he did on Call of Duty, which is his most watched video, over 24 million hits. The difference with mine is first off, it's all with Halo characters from multilayer, with all Halo guns. Also you will hear the people playing/commentary as if they are playing on XBox Live. The 2nd video is a Halo music video featuring YouTuber Lindsey Stirling. We have done a couple video game music videos together”.

For those of you who don’t know Lindsey Stirling is another famous YouTube personality who is incredibly well versed in playing the Violin and dancing, who has performed alongside Devin in what is, in my opinion some of the greatest Video Game Related content yet to be produced on YouTube. She has performed both a Skyrim music video and Zelda Medley video both of which, I’m certain you will enjoy.

“The concept for this Halo music video is Lindsey, the violin player, and another Piano player are playing in the forest, with 4 green Spartan characters protecting them. As the song progresses a battle takes place between blue/red vs green Spartans. We have all the weapons from the entire Halo series that we filmed with. So far though, with all the video game focused youtube videos I have done, they have all gotten 10 million hits, or close to that. They have been great for the video games involved. The last one I released last month, "Assassin's Creed Meets Parkour in Real Life", got 9 million in the first 3 weeks, where Ubisoft contacted me, and actually hired me to do another one because it did so much for them as far as a marketing tool."

With the first bit of content, supposedly going live this Tuesday, it should be a massive hit and draw in fans and viewers from all walks of life, be it gamer or supporter. But one thing is for certain. When Lindsey and Devin join forces it rocks the screen and with both their amazing abilities combined with the props and costumes from the 405th Infantry Division. When this lands it's going to land hard. Just like a Spartan should.

So we recently got some time with Boston McConnaughey, the director of one the 3 Projects that make up Project Utah as a whole. Boston was the director of the comedic series entitled “Respawn”, that gives us an inside view of just what happens while your Spartan lies dead, waiting to respawn in a versus game in Halo.

“In Halo we already know the answer to the age old question, is there life after death? Yes, there is, you respawn over and over again. The question our web series answers is one of a different nature: Is there life after death but before your reincarnation. While we could have gone in an ethereal route, the series "Respawn" is in no way "What Dreams May Come," instead we took a comic twist and said, what if the loading "space between" looked like an office break room, a friendly casual work environment where characters rested from the drudgery of fragging and fighting and sat down for a minute, grabbed a cup-o-joe and made small talk about the other things going on in their lives outside of conquest and capture the flag.”

So we have all seen a comedic version of Halo by now. But this one has a twist, it’s all live action. None of that Machinima Red vs Blue stuff Oh no. Don’t get me wrong RvB is pretty damn funny, but my only gripe with the series was that it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi, the human factor. But no more! Not with Boston and Devin are on the scene!

“Devin keeps calling me up saying he wants to make a Halo video. Devin Graham and I went to film school together and when he first started his channel I had worked with him on dozens of videos and shot his first viral video, which was a little big jump into a pond up the road. Since that time, he and Lindsey, who I also went to school with, had been doing really well in the YouTube scene but we had really not had much of a chance to collaborate over the years with our different projects.”

But they didn’t set out on this project just thinking, oh hey let’s make a show. No sir! They had a crew of 8 staff working on the movie, just so you know who they are and give them the appreciation they deserve we have:

Renny Grames: very talented actress.

Joseph Reidhead script writer and actor.

Andrew Hancock: script writer and producer.

Spencer Scanlon: first assistant director.

Eric Pasternak: director of photography.

Justin Attlmann: camera operator.

Lane Russel and Adam Demello: lighting guys.

Mark Weiler: fast cam operator .

So what exactly is Respawn like? If you’re anything like me then you must surely be interested in the tone and theme of productions, right?

The series has 9 short webisodes. Some of which will mostly take place outside of the Respawn Room and some of which will be exclusively humorous battleground scenarios. Working with all the different members of the 405th was amazing. "Respawn" however follows predominately 3 characters, "Otto" played by Collin Royster, "Ted" played by Walter Marlin, and "Newb" played by Tim Winn.

And with one final tease, just to keep you hooked! Boston threw in this little piece for all you aspiring actors and creative directors.

"For those out there who are interested in making fan films of this nature, one thing I would say is, costumes are tough to work with! A majority of the group had foam costumes, but some had cast resin and fiberglass. Running around in a ancient Volcano in central Utah in 50 pounds (approx 23 kilos) of armor presented some major difficulty. Devin had shot for 2 days with the guys 12 hours, sun up to sun down. So, needless to say when we met up with them, they were already tired. But their spirits were insanely high and we forged ahead. We tried to plan quick shots and sequences that would allow for the actors time to rest, while at the same time showcase the power needed to represent the Spartans they were dressed to be. On set with Devin's first person shooter and Lindsey's music video the guys had to fall down a lot to imitate the deaths that you see when playing multiplayer. Due to that, their costumes had been damaged and were in constant need of repair by the time we began shooting. So we made an effort to avoid falling and crushing the foam costumes as much as possible. And the greatest thing that stood out to me was the cosplayers extremely positive attitudes. On day one we had Daniel Wright, Steve Lee and Jim McCrea, as well as the weapons and props of Ben Armstrong. The shots to look out for would be probably the epic battle sequence where all of our Spartans were running in the volcanic crater while we drove by at 60 mph (96 kph) filming them with a Fast Cam at 2000 frames per second. We have everthing from a flamethrower to pistols, Halo 1 Master Chief to a Halo 4 Spartan. It's going to be an incredible show. To see it, viewers can subscribe on YouTube the channel "FreakinRad" videos will be coming out biweekly for the next few months."

"Inside of the Respawn room we follow an office comedy with very much a sitcom type feel. Funny banter and hilarious happenings. Out in the battlefield we have epic moments accented by the characters humorous attitudes, the battle rages and yet there's Ted, teabagging a fallen spartan in slow motion... We aimed to capture moments that will feel awe inspiring, and yet overall hopefully make Halo fans laugh and cheer....In that order, laugh first and then cheer."

So as per usual keep it locked here! For more information and news on Project Utah, exclusively at XBLG!

Last night XBLG was one of the select few groups that were fortunate enough to be invited to an event known as BAFTA Play. It goes without saying that a great night was had by all, drinks, food and some new mobile apps to try out from talent located in Scotland. The event was absolutely pack with BAFTA members, Games Developers and students alike, indeed it was a great example of the gaming community in all its glory.

Our host for the evening was Dr Jonothon Sykes from eMotion Lab who introduced a few guests to entertain our us with exciting projects to come in the near future. There was also got a chance to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones in the process, in particular the guys over at Pixels for Breakfast who will be hosting a podcast with our very own Gavin Divers (MANJO999) so keep an eye out for that on the site soon.

[Editors note] You can find more XBLG content here, and Gavin Divers can be found here.

First of all I'm just going to say thank you for talking with us here an XBLGamerHub.

Thanks for having me!

Well lets get straight down to the reason you here! You have been one of the most creative Halo forgers for sometime now, can you recall the first map you ever made?

I can’t resist giving a little background for these kinds of questions:

I've been playing Halo since the first game was released in 2001, so I experimented with Forge when it was first featured in Halo 3. I've never been a very competitive player, so the ability to finely tune spawn placement and weapon balance—the original reason Forge was created— wasn't something I found myself being interested in.

Instead, the first time Forge really caught my attention was when the first Forge-focused map, Foundry, was released for Halo 3 in 2008. That changed everything, actually turning Forge into a true map editor.

So, the first map I remember making in Forge was a SWAT map on Foundry, where one team spawned inside a large tractor trailer and had to defend it from the other team’s attacks. Yeah, that sounds pretty weird—but Foundry had this truck object that inspired some strange things.

That first map of mine was awful, both in concept and execution, and I eventually deleted it. You have to remember that there were no phased physics in Forge in Halo 3, and even the interlocking technique hadn't been discovered yet. There was no coordinate editing or rotational snap, so walls were crooked and didn't fit together. Forging in Halo 3 was a completely different experience from what it is today. Forge was difficult and unpolished back then, but the community loved it anyway. We found unexpected ways to do new things, and pioneered Forge’s current feature set through rudimentary and time-consuming techniques.

Another early memorable map of mine was called Platforms. It was an Infection map built in the cave on Avalanche that featured traditional Infection gameplay.

Then I started to get the creative itch. I later built an Infection map called Wizards Tower—but this time, the Infected players were invulnerable. The only way the humans could survive was to prevent the Infected players from reaching them at the top of the tower by triggering traps. For example, some platforms had fusion coils on them that would knock an Infected player off if it was shot at the right moment.

Being lucky enough to help test some of your maps, we know you're quite the perfectionist. On average how much time goes into creating your maps?

It varies a lot.

One of the last maps I created in Halo: Reach was Guitar Halo. I probably spent at least 4 months working on Guitar Halo—I would build a prototype, find a crippling flaw, and then have to go back to the drawing board. I would get tired of working on the map and would then work on something else for a few weeks, just to come back and try another prototype, only to have that one fail as well. I was determined to make it work, and eventually I was able to, but it took a very, very long time.

On the other hand, I created Knockin’ Zombs in Halo 3 in 30 minutes right before a customs night. And people loved it! To this day, those people still play my original Knockin’ Zombs map when they play Halo 3 customs.

But in general, if I know what I want to build and I don’t run into any problems during construction, I can finish a Forge map in a day or two—or even in a single sitting:

At what point did you notice you were being noticed for your creations?

After my awful SWAT map on Foundry and playing around with Infection for a while, I created the Flaming Ninja Challenge obstacle course. I was surprised to see that people were talking about it at message boards I had never visited, and that's when I first started getting noticed on occasion. I continued to create more Flaming Ninja Challenge obstacle courses throughout Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. I even had one featured in Achievement HORSE.

But I didn't really start to get a lot of recognition until Halo Waypoint debuted Forge with Pete, which is a Forge-focused show I created in 2012. It’s been great to have Halo Waypoint’s support when it comes to promoting Forge, so that’s been a great experience, and I hope people enjoy the show!

With Forge Island fresh off release, I assume you've enjoyed exploring new possibilities, Do you have any secrets up your sleeve. Any classic map remakes? Anything you can share with us? We won't tell a soul...promise!

One of our personal favorites you've created has to be one of your latest maps, PARADUX. Testing this map was alot of fun, And your attention to detail shows tenfold. But has there ever been a map variant that just hasn't worked, Despite numerous tweaks and adjustments?

I don’t normally create traditional multiplayer maps, so Paradux was a fun experiment for me. The map evolved a lot, especially thanks to the feedback of several great Forgers. The original concept was asymmetrical and had mancannons that launched players over deadly expanses of space. I quickly discovered that mancannons don’t have a predictable path—depending on how you enter them, you’ll land in different locations. So if players didn’t walk into a mancannon just right, they would miss the landing pad and fall to their death.

I started to bulk up the map, trying to compensate for the issues with the mancannons..

Eventually I realized that half of the map was much more interesting and enjoyable than the other… so I cut the map in half and mirrored it, making it symmetrical. I think it turned out pretty good!

So, some maps, like Paradux and Guitar Halo, just needed some tweaking. Eventually they came together and worked.

But absolutely, I’ve had some maps that just haven’t worked. Since I tend to focus on unusual gameplay, I’ve seen players get confused and frustrated by less-than-obvious gameplay on maps that I have created. If a map or game type isn’t intuitive, I tend to scrap it. My personal goal is that I should never have to explain how a map or game type works in the pregame lobby—people should be able to easily and quickly understand it on their own. I’m not always successful in that, but that’s what I try to do.

You have been working on our competition map variant the XBLG Arena, (thanks so much for that!) When the community get to play on it, what can they expect?

The map is in my File Share right now! So anyone can download it and give it a try. My gamertag is petetheduck.

The XBLG Arena I built is a simple round arena with a variety of partially-destroyed structures scattered throughout. The structures are intended to do more than simply block line of sight: most feature two stories and even permit players to get onto the roof to add some variety to combat.

I’ve actually been playing on it a lot lately with a FFA Fiesta game type, and it has worked great for that.

In regards of your Halo career/hobby, What has been your highlight to date?

I had the incredible opportunity to visit 343 Industries studio in Kirkland, Washington with a few other Community Cartographers a few days before Halo 4 launched. I’m still not sure how I managed to be so fortunate, but the entire trip was full of amazing moments, like meeting Burnie Burns, Mike Krahulik,and Louis Wu—but what I remember the most was how open and friendly everyone was.

I’m sure signing an NDA helped, but 343 Industries employees answered every question I had, and their community manager, Jessica Shea, even sat down with me one-on-one to address some of my questions. It was an incredibly positive experience and absolutely the highlight of my Halo hobby. You can read more about my trip here:http://petetheduck.com/trip-to-343-industries/

Do you have any hints or tips for someone starting off in the world of forge?

Get involved in a Forge community.

Post your maps there and listen to the feedback you get—It has been very, very rare that I’ve received feedback that wasn’t worth listening to, both positive and negative. Look at other people’s maps and learn from them—Forgers should inspire each other. There is no better way to improve and enjoy Forging than being involved in a Forge community.

343 Industries speak about the development of Spartan Ops and share their thoughts on how the downloadable series was designed in this short Documentary while speaking to XBLG. Speaking with That Xbox Show, part of XBLG, they take us behind the scenes with their thought processes and even give a few hints to what they are planning for the future.

[Editors Note] XBLG would like to thank all of our fans and followers who have been with us from the beginning. We would also like to thank the IGN community for joining us and making our voices heard. We game for you and with you and we owe you a lot. Thank you all very much.